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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26552137">Whenever Darkness Falls</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/treefrogie84/pseuds/treefrogie84'>treefrogie84</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Old Guard Bingo [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Battle of Antioch, Canon Typical Major Character Death, F/M, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Red String of Fate, Soulmates, before their first deaths</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:26:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>802</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26552137</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/treefrogie84/pseuds/treefrogie84</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>He's blessed with a full rainbow of strings, leading from his heart to the people around him. Except for the red string, leading to his soulmate, which is anchored to the north, across the sea. Yusuf isn't sure he's ever going to meet the person on the other end.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Old Guard Bingo [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901185</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>107</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Old Guard Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Whenever Darkness Falls</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Significantly more historical research done for this one, but, again, I'm a white woman writing in 2020, I'm sure I've fucked up somewhere. If you think it needs to be fixed, let me know-- I've the same username on just about any platform you can think of. </p><p>No beta, we die like immortals.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A rainbow of threads weave around his fingers, braided together before fading into near imperceptible colors as they flow to the anchors on the other end.</p><p>A full spectrum for a full life, dancing around the many people of his father’s household. Sunshine yellow to his older brother and best friend. Ocean-deep violet to his mother, full of love and wisdom as she helps his father manage their merchant ships.</p><p>Yusuf doesn’t think he should know where his green string leads, but he followed it one day, after lessons. It ended at the house of another merchant, brilliantly colored silks. The end is one of the man’s daughters, the green matching her veil. He can live with it, Fatima seems nice enough the few times they meet before their fathers announce the betrothal. A friend and helpmate, more than soulmate, but… friendship is close to love, and can always grow into it.</p><p>It is only his red thread that is not anchored in their port town, fading north across the sea.</p><hr/><p>There are rumors already that spring, brought south and west by trading caravans and ships. The Christians are on the move. Their god calls them towards Jerusalem either in retaliation or extremism, the rumors are unclear.</p><p>A madman leads them, certain that they are marching towards the end of the world.</p><p>Yusuf’s fathers and brothers scoff, certain that it will amount to nothing. Even if it does, Jerusalem is a long way from their affairs in Córdoba and Tangier. Yusuf listens to the sailors and merchants, travelers and priests, and watches as the solid anchor of his soul line moves steadily east.</p><p>Fatima watches him watch his string. She is a good wife, the helpmate he always hoped for. He’s granted her as much freedom as he can, is her friend in truth, but he’s not sure… Her own soulmate was tied much closer, the daughter of one of her father’s servants. Yusuf brought the woman into their home as soon as he could— how could he deny her that comfort?— and watched for his own.</p><p>“Go,” Fatima says, presenting him with a packed trunk after he’s spent months fretting. “Your father’s ship leaves for Antioch tomorrow. Go.”</p><p>“If I—“</p><p>“You have been a kind husband for these seven years, Yusuf. I can manage our affairs until you return. And if you do not, both your brother and mine will see to it that I am taken care of.”</p><p>He glances around the chambers he lives in alone, listening to the womenfolk chatter in the evenings, friendly and alive. “Do not let them separate you and Basimah. I’ll leave instructions…”</p><p>She gestures towards his trunk as he starts to think about what instructions he needs to leave behind, both for her and for their families. He picks it up absently, carrying it to his office before he starts to write.</p><p>—————</p><p>The ship reaches Antioch barely ahead of the Franks, one last shipment of food and goods before the city is encircled. The Christians will never completely sever the supply lines, but as Yusuf looks around, he can already see the wealthy starting to buy more food than they can eat.</p><p>He should leave— and he sends the others of his caravan ahead of him, back to the ship to bring news to his father— but somewhere in this mess is his soulmate, anchoring his red thread so firmly and close that it’s visible even at noon.</p><p>Sorties are fought, won and lost. The Franks are savages, defiling the dead and even those that have been buried.</p><p>Months pass. Yusuf grows thin and worried, looking more and more like his sword one of the men says in passing.</p><p>His soul is… outside the walls. In the starving mass of pilgrims and warriors barely able to hold the siege.</p><p>A traitor lets them inside the walls, opening a gate and allowing hundreds of knights inside and then, with that breathing space secured, the entire Frankish army.</p><p>And then there’s too much to fight, the city streets running with blood until one of the Christians stabs him as he takes a moment to breathe in the lee of a doorway. Yusuf tackles him, rolling them in the mud as he jams his belt knife into the man’s side, ripping downward.</p><p>He thinks the glowing red between them is blood for a second, pouring out of both of them faster than anyone can survive. Except it’s his thread, his soulmate thread, joining his heart with this man’s.</p><p>They’ve killed each other. He will never be able to bring his soul mate home to meet Fatima, find a way to live together as four without risking gossip or their fathers’ wrath.</p><p>Maybe in the afterlife, he’ll have a chance to know how it should be done.</p>
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